Grain binder



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

W. ALDRICH.-

GRAIN BINDER.

N0.'265,232. Patented Oct. 3, 18-82.

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W. ALDRICH GRAIN BINDER.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Patented Oct. 3, 1882.

"I'M W U WITNESSES IJY'V-EJY'TOR 74 52186 .flZdrw z; By in mama or,Washinglnn, D. c

Ur'rE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALES ALDRICH, OE MIAMISBURG, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO ABEL HOOVER AND WILLIAMGAMBLE, OF SAME PLACE.

GRAIN-BINDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 265,232, dated October3, 1882.

Application filed August 2, 1882. (No model.) 7

To all 'LO/LOIIL it may concern Be it known that I, WALES ALDRICH, ofMiamisburg, in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Grain-Binders,of which thefol-lowing is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of automatic grain-bindersin whichthe binding mechanism is started by the pressure of the accumulatinggavel against a compressing and tripping arm, composed generally of twoconnected parallel fingers, which closes the exit from thegrain-receptacle and opposes itself to the action of the packing devicesby which the grain is fed and compressed until the moment apredetermined size or compression of the gavel is reached, when byrocking or yielding itclutches the binding mechanism with thecontinuously-driven harvester-gearing, and then in the ensuing bindingoperation is temporarily withdrawn to permit the discharge of the boundsheaf, immediately returned to its former position, and reset for thereception of the next gavel. These compressingand tripping fingers aredifferently mounted in different styles of machines and throw thebinding mechanism into gear by various devices 5 but they all act uponthe common principle of engagement of the clutch, whatever may be itsform, superinduced by the yielding or rocking of said fingers upon theirpivot or axle, thus by cranks or connecting-links releasing the stopwhich holds the movable part of the clutch out of engagement, or elsepositively actuating such movable part to bringitinto engagement. Inthat special type of machine which I have chosen to illustrate myinvention these compressing or tripping fingers are pivoted to asupporting arm or bar, which in turn is pivoted to the heel of thebinder-arm, and is yieldin gly sustained intermediate of its length by alink and spring connection-such, for instance, as shown in the patentgranted to John F. Appleby on the 18th day of February, 1879, No.212,420. As the tripping-fingers yield before the incoming gavel theyrock upon their pivotal point upon this bar, and, being connected bymeans of an eye to a trip-rod fast to a rockshaft ultimately controllingthe clutch mechanism ,lift the end of said rod,rockin g the shaft,and

throwing the clutch into engagement. Immediatelythereafter, and afterthe binder-arm has moved to carry the cord around the gavel, thesupporting-arm, which until this moment has held them up, closing theouter side of the grain-receptacle, sinks with them beneath the table,the bound sheaf is ejected, and as they immediately thereafter riseagain, the pressure upon them at the time being removed, they are resetin readiness for the next gavel. In this construction it has been commonto adjust the tripping-fingers longitudinally of the supporting-bar tovary the size of the sheaf, which is frequently desirable owing to thevarying conditions of the grain, some grain being choked with weeds,other grain being light and dry, and still other tangled or lodged or ina wet condition. Now, it is obvious that a change of position of thetripping-fingers along the supporting-bar will lengthen or shorten theleverage on the trip-rod, so that when the space between thetripping-fingers and the packers is least to make a small-sized gavel,the leverage required to actuate the trip-rod and start the bindingmechanism will be greatest. The small gavel will therefore be packed andcompressed much more than a large one, whereas practical uniformity ofcompression in all these adjustments is desirable. To obviate thisdefect it has been proposed to make a portion of the trippingfinger adjnstable independent of that part which is pivoted to the supporting-bar;but although this leaves the pivot constant, and the length of thetriprod from its axis or rock-shaft to the point of 8 5 its connectionwith the tripping-fingers is unchanged, still the effect of adjusting onthe other side of the pivot is to change one of the lever-arms, andtherefore to a more or less important extent change the leverage.

My invention consists in the employment of an independent arm or barremovably pivoted to a stationary part of the frame-work or bindingmechanism in advance of the compressing-fin gers and eccentrically totheirpivot, with its free end resting upon these fingers near their tip,and adapted to travel upon said fingers, so that as grain is packedagainst it it pushes them back, riding gradually down toward their pivotin the act until they have receded far enough to start the bindingmechanism.

It also consists in combining with said independent or supplementarycompressing-arm wings or runners which rest upon the separate edge orribs of the compressing finger or fingers and travel thereon; incombining with said independent or supplementary compressing-arm orrider lifts or blocks which may be inserted between it and thecompressingfingers, to further diminish the grain-receiving space orincrease the range of adjustment; and in the various other combinationsand details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of so much of an automaticbinder with myinvention applied as is necessary to an understandingthereof; Fig. 2, an opposite side elevation,enlarged, of a compressingand tripping arm or fingers and sustaining bar with a supplementary armor rider mounted upon thetucker-cam and in position foraction. Figs. 3,4, and 5 are details.

A designates a portion of the decking or floor of a grain-receptacle; B,the vibrating hinder-arm, keyed to the rock-shaft I) beneath said floor;O, a supporting-arm for the compressing and tripping fingers, pivoted atc to the heel extension of the hinder-arm, so that as the latter risesit may tend to draw up said supporting-arm and the compressing-fingersborne thereby to give the gavel an additional compression. About midwayof its length this supporting arm or bar has pivoted to it a link, D,which at its other end connects with a crank, (1, upon arock-sliaft, d,to which springpressure will he applied in such manner as to normallyretain the bar in its elevated position. To said bar, beyond the pointof attachment with the link, are pivoted at e the compressing andtripping fingers E. Usually these constitute an integral bi-fingeredcasting. They may, however, be merged into a single arm or increased innumber as found advisable.

Upon the shank of the compressing and tripping fingers, sufficiently infront of their pivotal attachment to the supporting-arm to afl'ordsuitable leverage, is an eye, 0, in which is received the free end oftrip-rod F, formed asa crank or offset from the rock-shaftf, hereinaftercalled the trip-shaft, which immediately controls the clutchingmechanism. As the compressing-arms are pushed back upon their pivot bythe accumulation of the gavel they will raise the free end of thetrip-rod and rock the trip shaft, thus releasing or otherwise causingthe engagement of the clutch to start the binder. In like manner asheretofore, the tripping-fingers are or may be made adjustable as totheir pivotal point along the supporting'har, thus enabling me tocontrol the amount of leverage necessary to trip the binder; but for thepurpose of sizing the sheaf, while retaining such leverage practicallyuniform unless independently altered, I pivotto theframework in advanceof the tripping-fingers a supplementary com pressing-arm, The free endof this arm rests upon the inner curved side of the compressing-fingers,near their tip, when there is no load upon them, and is advisedlyprovided with runners g, which permit it, as grain is packed against it,to ride down the face of these fingers and push them back upon theirpivot until the binder is started. It will be observed that the pivot ofthis arm or rider must be not only eccentric to the pivot of thetrippingarms, but eccentric to the are of their forward faces. It mightunder some circumstances, observing these conditions, be upon the innerend of the supporting-bar itself; but I deem it more beneficial to haveit pivoted to some fixed part of the frame, and have found it mostconvenient to pivot it to a lug or projection or offset, h, fromthetucker-cam E. This latter usually lies close alongside thesustaining-bar in this class of machines, and in order to bring therider properly in front of the tripping-fingers pivoted to said bar theoffset is made to overhang the bar sufi icient to properly center saidrider. The hinge betweeuthe rider and cam is made with stops orshoulders h M, to check the rider from shutting or falling in over thecam when thrown violently forward by the return of the tripping-arms totheir normal position. In the other direction the rider will besufficiently checked by the trippingarms or by striking against thesustaining-bar should it be pushed so far back. In cross-section therider is preferably made somewhat hollow or dished to afford a spacewithin which the band can lie without frictional contact, in this simplyfollowing the analogy of the compressor-arms heretofore used in thesemachines. It may be made of skeleton form, and is, in fact, not limitedto any particular shape or size, such items being determined byconvenience or preference.

As thus far described the use of the rider enables only a single changein size of the sheaf-- that is, the size which will be given by thecompressing and tripping fingers acting without the rider, and the sizegiven when the rideris used. In order to obtain a greater range ofadjustment, I make provision for applying to the tip of the rider liftsor blocks I, of varying sizes, all of which have the same general shape,but will vary as to the degree to which they lift the rider away fromthe tripping-arms. The simplest mode of applying these lifts known to meis to form upon the rear of the rider, at its tip, between the tworunners which it carries, a square boss or enlargement, i, and to formin the body of each lift a corresponding seat or recess, 71. Beyond thisbody portion each lift has wings or runners which beneath are grooved tosit over and saddle the runners upon the rider itself, and which takethe place of these runners as to the contact with the trippingfingers,and therefore by their depth upon eachiudividualliftdeterminetheadjustment. When one of these lifts has beenput in place it will be held firmly by a single screw-bolt, i, passingfrom the rider to the boss or enlargement thereon into and through thebody of said lift. Other modes of securing an extensive range ofadjustment in connection with my hinged riderarm will readily occurto askilled mechanic.

I do not intend to limit myself to the use of the hinged rider, with orwithout adjusting lifts, in connection with the specific trippingmechanism herein described and shown, since it can obviously be made toactuate any pivoted compressing and tripping arm which is under suitablerelations to the grain-receptacle and as to its own movements.

1 claim 1. The combination, with the compressing and tripping arm orfingers, of a supplementary arm or rider hinged in advance of saidtripping-arm and resting at its free end against the tip thereof.

2. The combination, with the compressing and tripping arm or fingers, ofa supplementary arm or rider hinged in advance of said tripping-arm, anda removable adjusting lift in terposed between the free end of saidrider and the tip of the tripping-arm.

3. The combination, with the pivoted compressing and tripping arm orfingers, of a supplementary arm or rider hinged in advance of saidtripping-arm to a fixed portion of the binder and resting at its freeend against the tip of said tripping-arm.

4. In combination with a compressing and tripping arm and asupporting-bar, to which it is pivoted and along which it may be ad- 3 5j usted to increase or decrease the leverage required to start theclutch, a supplementary removable arm or rider hinged in front of thetripping-arm and resting as to its free end against the tip thereof, tochange the size of the grain-receivin g space.

5. The combination of the supporting-bar,

the tripping arm or fingers pivoted thereto, the trip-rod connected withthe said trippingarm, and the supplementary arm or rider pivoted to anoffset from the heelof the tuckercam above the supporting-bar and infront of the tripping-arm.

6. In combination with the tripping arm or fingers, the rider hinged infront thereof, and the stops whereby the rider is prevented from closingtoo far upon its hinge.

7. The rider formed with wings or runners at the end away from itshinge, to rest upon the ribs of the compressing and tripping arm.

8. In combination with the rider, formed with an angular boss at its endfarthest from the hinge, the lift formed with a seat to take over saidboss and with runners to rest against the tripping-arm, and thethrough-bolt detachably uniting the lift to the rider.

9. The rider formed, as described, with wings or runners at its unhingedend, and an angula-r boss between said runners, combined with the lifthaving a recess or seat to take over said boss, and runners groovedbeneath to saddle the runners upon the rider, and a removable boltpassing through rider, boss, and lift to secure the parts together. i

10. The tucker-cam formed with an offset to overhang the supporting-barand afford means for hinging the rider above said bar and directly infront of the tripping-arm.

l1. Thetucker-cam havingformed therewith one member of ahinge-connection and the shoulder or stop It, in combination with therider having the other member of said hingeconnection and a secondopposing shoulder or stop, 7L2, substantially as described.

' WALES ALDRICH.

Witnesses:

LEWIS H. ZEHRING, GEO. BRA'ssING'roN.

